It's not that they are always dead months, there are at times movies where the studio think it could do well but is afraid of releasing them during competition months like June, July, August. So they release them in safe territory hoping that they gain legs.

Okay, did anyone else hate Hurt Locker as much as I did? I thought it was an over-rated, meandering mess that had no real, coherent plot, and did not delevop the characters past, essentially, the charicature stage. We watched it well after it was on dvd. When I looked at my wife after, my first words were, "Well, that was two hours of my life I want back."

PizzaJedi81:Okay, did anyone else hate Hurt Locker as much as I did? I thought it was an over-rated, meandering mess that had no real, coherent plot, and did not delevop the characters past, essentially, the charicature stage. We watched it well after it was on dvd. When I looked at my wife after, my first words were, "Well, that was two hours of my life I want back."

Yes. But if you don't like it you're a woman hating war loving heartless SOB.

I loved it. Strictly speaking as a veteran. The director captured the viewpoint of the people on the ground very well. It doesn't look that way to the brass or to the media but it sure looks a lot like that to the participants. There was certainly some artistic license taken but all in all pretty close.

Should movies that opened in the pre-multiplex, pre-home video days count?Up until the late 70s, it really didn't matter when a movie opened, because there weren't enough prints for a wide release. Some cities wouldn't get a certain movie for months, and in many cases, the average theatrical run was up to a year or longer.

PizzaJedi81:Okay, did anyone else hate Hurt Locker as much as I did? I thought it was an over-rated, meandering mess that had no real, coherent plot, and did not delevop the characters past, essentially, the charicature stage. We watched it well after it was on dvd. When I looked at my wife after, my first words were, "Well, that was two hours of my life I want back."

Yep. I was like, this is the movie everyone is going nuts about?

I'm trained in some of what he does in the movie. Nobody in my unit would put up with a guy like that.

i always figured that the 'dead' months was the time to release good movies. while the blockbuster months was the time to release pulp tripe to make money. and then, release a melodramatic politically motivated sympathetic drivel around oscar time.

PizzaJedi81:Okay, did anyone else hate Hurt Locker as much as I did? I thought it was an over-rated, meandering mess that had no real, coherent plot, and did not delevop the characters past, essentially, the charicature stage. We watched it well after it was on dvd. When I looked at my wife after, my first words were, "Well, that was two hours of my life I want back."

pute kisses like a man:i always figured that the 'dead' months was the time to release good movies. while the blockbuster months was the time to release pulp tripe to make money. and then, release a melodramatic politically motivated sympathetic drivel around oscar time.

The summer blockbuster was invented by Steven Spielberg. Before that people only went to movies in the summer for free air-conditioning.

Fano:pute kisses like a man: i always figured that the 'dead' months was the time to release good movies. while the blockbuster months was the time to release pulp tripe to make money. and then, release a melodramatic politically motivated sympathetic drivel around oscar time.

The summer blockbuster was invented by Steven Spielberg. Before that people only went to movies in the summer for free air-conditioning.

Hence why over half the movies on that list were released before Jaws.

stoli n coke:Should movies that opened in the pre-multiplex, pre-home video days count?Up until the late 70s, it really didn't matter when a movie opened, because there weren't enough prints for a wide release. Some cities wouldn't get a certain movie for months, and in many cases, the average theatrical run was up to a year or longer.

The theater where I saw Star Wars the first (eleven) time ran it, and only it, for over a year.

PizzaJedi81:Okay, did anyone else hate Hurt Locker as much as I did? I thought it was an over-rated, meandering mess that had no real, coherent plot, and did not delevop the characters past, essentially, the charicature stage. We watched it well after it was on dvd. When I looked at my wife after, my first words were, "Well, that was two hours of my life I want back."

So they have run the awards more than 80 times I think, and the first half of the year accounts for 22 of the best picture awards, so on those stats it seems the second half of the year is 3 times more likely to get best picture, and thus the first half of the year do seem like dead months.

I liked The Hurt Locker quite a damn lot but then when the producers started suing the shiat out of file sharers I refused to see it again or purchase it, despite the fact that it's when I would definitely own under normal circumstances.

that bosnian sniper:Fano: pute kisses like a man: i always figured that the 'dead' months was the time to release good movies. while the blockbuster months was the time to release pulp tripe to make money. and then, release a melodramatic politically motivated sympathetic drivel around oscar time.

The summer blockbuster was invented by Steven Spielberg. Before that people only went to movies in the summer for free air-conditioning.

Hence why over half the movies on that list were released before Jaws.

Crash and Gladiator didn't deserve their Best Picture Oscars. And I still can't believe Forrest Gump won Best Picture over Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction was good and influenced a lot of movies that came after it.

Crash and Gladiator didn't deserve their Best Picture Oscars. And I still can't believe Forrest Gump won Best Picture over Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction was good and influenced a lot of movies that came after it.

Gump was more family-oriented and had a soundtrack made for Boomers, i.e. broader appeal.

That was a hard year to call, good competition the entire way around, but I gotta agree that Shawshank was the better film that year. From pacing, plot, dialogue, sound track, cinematography....you have to work to find flaws in the film.

Oh good another chance for to say how badly The Hurt Locker sucked. I made it 25 minutes into The Hurt Locker. I watched in on bootleg sitting in a small combat outpost in southern Iraq.I was in Baghdad where the movie took place, in 2006 when the movie took place. It was absolutely nothing like that. I'm not saying I needed Saving Private Ryan Omaha beach verisimilitude, but something resembling reality would be nice.As great as having EOD nearby was, they are not all encompassing bad-asses. They're actually quite fragile. They have a specific job to do and in order to get them to do that job, you have to sit around and wait for them to get there. While they spool up all their toys and their security. They're not johnny-on-the-spot assets. And they certainly did not roll around Baghdad all by their awesome lonesome. They usually had giant trails of security in tow. I am I grateful for the handful of bombs they defused for us? Kinda, but sitting around pulling security for 6 hours waiting for them to show up was also a really good way to get mortared, rocketed, or sniped. Speaking of which, no one rolled around alone. At least by choice. I was left behind from a convoy once. And it was terrifying driving around Baghdad in the dark in just a single vehicle trying to find the rest of the convoy. No one chooses to do that. Especially not if you're EOD. There was no commandeering of local national vehicles and the one guy I heard about from a nearby fob who left the fob by himself was luckily returned to by some Iraqi Police who stopped him and brough him back before he was found in sewage plant with holes drilled through his eyes and kneecaps (which was the style at the time).The movie had no concept of how rank structure worked.It had no idea how PTSD manifests itself, nor how combat stress counselors work. I knew lots of guys who loved the war, but none of them fit that "adrenaline junkie" stereotype that Bigelow loved so much she made a whole other movie about it called Point Break. It infuriates me that this crap pile of movie is the movie that everyone points to as "the definitive movie about the Iraq war." It's like calling The Lord of the Rings "the definitive movie about the 100 Years War" because they both had swords in them.

Of the seven post-Jaws movies on that list, only two were released before the first weekend in May -- the kickoff for "summer blockbuster" season: Annie Hall and Silence of the Lambs. The other five were released between May and July.

Crash and Gladiator didn't deserve their Best Picture Oscars. And I still can't believe Forrest Gump won Best Picture over Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction was good and influenced a lot of movies that came after it.

Gump was more family-oriented and had a soundtrack made for Boomers, i.e. broader appeal.

And Hanks did not go full retard, which probably helped.

It was Gary Sinese's (the CGI boosted his Oscar win) and Robin Wright's (got screwed by the voters) film.

Crash and Gladiator didn't deserve their Best Picture Oscars. And I still can't believe Forrest Gump won Best Picture over Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction was good and influenced a lot of movies that came after it.

Gump was more family-oriented and had a soundtrack made for Boomers, i.e. broader appeal.

And Hanks did not go full retard, which probably helped.

There were plenty of movies better than Forrest Gump that year, but Gump captured the right-leaning members of the Academy with it's Conservative message and the left-leaners with the presence of the stars. Pulp Fiction did nothing for the right-leaners and made some of the left-leaners uncomfortable. More often than not, Academy voting is a political statement.

Crash and Gladiator didn't deserve their Best Picture Oscars. And I still can't believe Forrest Gump won Best Picture over Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction was good and influenced a lot of movies that came after it.

Gump was more family-oriented and had a soundtrack made for Boomers, i.e. broader appeal.

And Hanks did not go full retard, which probably helped.

There were plenty of movies better than Forrest Gump that year, but Gump captured the right-leaning members of the Academy with it's Conservative message and the left-leaners with the presence of the stars. Pulp Fiction did nothing for the right-leaners and made some of the left-leaners uncomfortable. More often than not, Academy voting is a political statement.

Don't forget being able to pat yourself on the back for being "progressive" by being so "daring" as to applaud a movie being completely uncontroversial about a controversial issue (Philadelphia)

advex101:I loved it. Strictly speaking as a veteran. The director captured the viewpoint of the people on the ground very well. It doesn't look that way to the brass or to the media but it sure looks a lot like that to the participants. There was certainly some artistic license taken but all in all pretty close.

My buddy is an Iraq vet and kept complaining that no one in Hurt Locker appeared to have a chain of command. Not being in the military myself, it all seemed pretty decent to me.